Manning Up in the Heat

Unlike showy thunderstorms that grab you by the lapels and shout “Wear your galoshes!” heat waves are like wolves in wool clothing, causing hellish discomfort in the disguise of a sunny summer day. Some of us are fooled: we put on a brave face, our usual clothes, and go to work, where we arrive in a damp, disheveled heap. But gaming a heat wave is no walk in the park. The usual codes of summer style go right out the window (if you’re daft enough to have left it open). At a certain point (say, 90 degrees), a new set of objectives takes over. Questions like “What would look sexy?” or “What would look proper?” are brushed aside, leaving one desperate quest: how to get through the next 12 hours with the least amount of suffering.

In other words, how to bear it all without baring it all.

Most guys have their tricks and tactics. Some say socks; some say nix. Some swear by the virtue of an undershirt for keeping a dress shirt relatively dry; others contend that an extra layer just creates more heat and discomfort, not to mention a moisture trap that never dries.

Fashion designers are better known for their efforts to make their customers feel figuratively cool instead of literally so, but rumor has it that they are people, too. So it seemed reasonable to think that men’s wear designers would have a few extra tips up their imported sleeves — and indeed they do. As is the case with other guys, they vary wildly in their approach. For instance, Robert Geller, known for a sort of slouchy aesthetic, likes to start with clothes that look rumply and wrinkled by design, pre-empting the dishabille that heat will inflict. The up-and-coming designer Tim Coppens, who worked at Adidas and is an advocate of high-tech fabrics in his own line, prefers clothes made of fabrics designed for the playing field, which wick moisture away and stand up to heat, sweat and even a grass stain or two.

Being affected by the heat more than most (I suspect my constitution is best suited to summer somewhere around the Arctic Circle), I have developed a few tips of my own. I’m never without a bandanna in my back pocket for mopping my forehead, and often have another one tied around my neck, which lends a jaunty ‘70s touch while soaking up sweat that would otherwise soak my shirt. I found great-fitting, paper-thin cotton pants at Uniqlo ($40) and bought two pairs in each of four different colors, so I can treat them like T-shirts instead of dress trousers.

I wear good shoes that slip on — black Alden loafers — so I can kick them off for frequent breathers. Instead of heavy leather belts, I use the colorful elastic ones worn by baseball players, which look good, never feel hot and binding and, best of all, are $5 a pop. I may still look like a wreck, but a wreck who might possibly, briefly, be enjoying his day in the sun.

THOM BROWNE

“I hate the heat,” said Thom Browne with a terse vitriol rare for the soft-spoken designer.

You might think Mr. Browne, who last month won his second award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America for his unswerving aesthetic that mixes conservative and radical elements, might let down his guard — or at least his necktie. You know, make some exceptions to his everyday outfit of an echt-traditional suit and tie, trading in the suit for, like, a T-shirt and jams or something?

The idea amused him. But he makes only one concession to summer dressing, and that he makes as soon as the mercury hits 80.

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“The uniform doesn’t change,” said Thom Browne.CreditRobert Wright for The New York Times

“The uniform doesn’t change,” Mr. Browne said firmly, giving credence to the idea that cool is a demeanor as much as it is a temperature. He starts as he always does, with a white cotton tank top and boxer shorts. Then, a white cotton oxford-cloth dress shirt, a black wool tie and a wool suit jacket made of dark gray lightweight super 120s wool.

And, in the same fabric, just-above-the-knee-length shorts.

“Cotton shorts are just as hot,” he said, adding that, unlike cotton, wool is relatively moisture-proof and keeps its crisp look throughout a hot summer day. “Especially if you sweat.”

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Jose De Haro skips the suit on most days, but pays special attention to fit and tailoring when dressing for his broadcast job on Wall Street.

He has the same attitude about his customary black wingtips. So what if they’re heavy?

“I have no interest in changing my footwear,” he said. As for his largely unseen white cotton athletic socks, he wears those for the better part of the year — or until the weather turns freezing, when he trades them for knee-highs. The shorts and knee-highs do not go together.

“I love the idea of it,” he said, “but it’s a little much for me.”

TODD SNYDER

“More than snow — much more,” Todd Snyder declared when asked how much he hated the heat, as he melted outside his Flatiron district offices. “In the winter, you can add layers. In summer, you can only subtract so much. My kind are not meant for the heat.”

Mr. Snyder’s practical but stylish designs (he was just nominated for a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award) has won him many fans ready to upgrade from the men’s wear he designed at J. Crew. But for him, dressing for the heat is more about damage control than self-expression. His strategy: find a light, workable look that will pass muster at work and at meetings, and stick with it.

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“In the winter, you can add layers. In summer, you can only subtract so much. My kind are not meant for the heat," said Todd Snyder.CreditRobert Wright for The New York Times

• No dress shirt; indeed, almost no sleeves at all. He prefers a vintage-look T-shirt, like the ones he makes in recycled cotton.

• If he needs to look, say, gainfully employed, he puts on an unlined sport coat of his own design. It’s made of a light linen-wool blend that stays dry and improves with a bit of wear, and is light gray, to absorb as little heat as possible.

• Accessories are key(s). Lightweight clothes are easily weighed down with a phone, wallet and keys. “I hate having keys in my pocket in the summer,” he said. “So I have a key chain that hooks onto my belt loop. And it has a bottle opener, so I can quickly open a beer.”

For the rest, he has a smart leather carry case just big enough for his iPad and a few other necessities like an extra handkerchief. Also important: no shoulder strap, which is guaranteed to rumple and ruin whatever shred of cool you’ve managed to hang on to.

MICHAEL BASTIAN

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“If you’re going to dress more casually, you can really lift your look with accessories,” said Michael Bastian.CreditRobert Wright for The New York Times

It’s no surprise that Michael Bastian, known for his sexed-up, Eur-refined take on preppy Americana, would favor the look himself whatever the season. But given that Mr. Bastian, like many fashion designers, makes clothes that look more luxuriously functional than they act, it’s refreshing to hear that he has good tips up his sleeve.

• Dark, check. You might think that the summer dress-shirt code would banish dark colors and somber plaids. No, he said. His own code calls for the darkest and/or plaidest shirts you can find: they camouflage sweat and wrinkles better than anything else. “A little pattern, a little color and a little texture will hide a lot,” he said.

• Stay away from denim. Especially heavy denim, or any jeans that are too tight. They trap moisture and heat on your legs, which makes your whole body feel hotter and heavier. Find the best loosefitting, lightweight cotton pants you can, and buy a few pairs so they’re always ready to roll.

• Nix the undershirt. “It’s just one more layer,” he said. “And there’s nothing worse than a wet T-shirt.” If you’re going out on the town after work, bring an extra dress shirt to work. (And make it easy by asking your laundry to fold some of your shirts instead of putting them on hangers.)

• Upgrade and use the finishing touches. “If you’re going to dress more casually, you can really lift your look with accessories,” he said. A good watch, a signet ring, an alligator belt and an excellent, well-shined pair of brogues or loafers (which slip on and off easily) are examples. (But, he added, lose the socks. “I ditched those at 70 degrees,” he said.)

BILLY REID

You might think that Billy Reid, the popular designer who moved his life and his label from New York to Florence, Ala., would understand summer better than his northern kin. And given that his clothes have a dressed-down, whiskey-flavored charm, you might think he would have some ingenious solutions for keeping your cool on a scorcher. Not so on either account.

“Our summers are very similar to the ones here,” said Mr. Reid, who happened to be in New York for last week’s heat wave. “And when it’s 100 degrees, there’s really no great way to escape it.”

But like his colleagues, he does have his own approach, the logic of which is to dress as lightly and loosely as possible while cultivating a look of unplanned nonchalance.

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“And when it’s 100 degrees, there’s really no great way to escape it,” said Billy Reid.CreditRobert Wright for The New York Times

• His preferred extreme-heat pants are a loose, light canvas with as little construction as possible. This is most true at the waist, where a so-called Hollywood waist (no separate reinforced waistband, just fabric that is folded over and lined) constricts the body as little as possible but still offers more structure than a drawstring or elastic waist would.

• He prefers what could be called an overshirt, made in white Irish linen. Looser fitting than most dress shirts, it is on the short side; its tails are designed to be worn untucked. Double breast pockets that button give the shirt extra substance, the sleeves look good rolled up, and it can be worn unbuttoned, provided you are wearing a good undershirt. (For the record, he wears one. “I’ve worn one ever since I was young,” he said, “so it just feels right.”)

• His shoes are low ankle boots with a monk-strap detail and an ultrathin sole. “They’re about as close to sandals as you can get,” he said. No socks.

ANTONIO AZZUOLO

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Antonio Azzuolo opts for linen in the summer.CreditRobert Wright for The New York Times

Antonio Azzuolo is so well versed and enthusiastic on the subject of men’s wear fabrics that you could easily lose an hour or two listening to him hold forth, and maybe a grand or two if his clothes are for sale nearby.

This passion, it turns out, is well suited to dealing with temperature extremes. An admirer of both sedate tailored clothing and its opposite, the ragtag, sport-functional wardrobe of the bicycle messenger, Mr. Azzuolo is forever addressing the needs of the latter with the materials of the former. Heat-wave dressing is, he said, a problem best solved with natural remedies. Natural fabrics, that is.

• Linen. Linen shirting is his first line of defense against the heat. Linen, he said, doesn’t hold on to moisture and doesn’t get soggy and claustrophobic the way cotton can. He’s particularly fond of a pullover-style, bib-front shirt that riffs on both formal wear and sports clothes. And if the heat leaves you no choice but to strip to your undershirt, a stylish linen model can make it look as if the change of clothes was voluntary instead of desperate.

• Wool. “I have a jacket that’s tropical wool mohair that’s only half lined,” he said. “The mohair absorbs all the moisture and humidity, and nowadays the English mills that make these traditional fabrics make them with antimicrobial, anti-odor properties.” Subtle patterns like miniature houndstooth can help as well, repelling and concealing scuffs and stains that cotton seems to attract and highlight.

• Cotton. It’s not just for shirts. Mr. Azzuolo has been making summer jackets out of cotton shirting poplin. “They’re made of 80 and 120 two-ply cotton, half lined,” he said. “I didn’t think it would work, but it works really well.”